The Woman Who Became the Hero of Fyre Festival

Before the disastrous Fyre Festival scam, Maryann Rolle was a Bahamian woman who owned a local restaurant and sought to provide good food for locals and tourists. But as The Hunger Games-like debacle of the festival played out, Rolle took the time, cost, and effort to continue to feed those who had been stranded during the event-that-wasn't, according to Netflix's new documentary—even though Rolle wasn't sure she'd get reimbursed. Rolle spent $50,000 of her savings to do so, reportedly ruining her credit in the process.

Like the rest of the world, you probably watched it play out over social media, but here's a recap: The event lost investors money, ruined the reputation of Fyre Media, left thousands of local workers unpaid with no food, and put partygoers stranded in the middle of nowhere. It's now been made into two documentaries, and the organizer, Billy McFarland, has been sentenced to six years in prison. But there was a hero among the catastrophe: Rolle.

She's a local restaurant owner.

Rolle and her husband Elvis own and operate family restaurant Exuma Point Bar and Grille. Located at the northern part of the island, it has a reputation for serving fresh, delicious food like ribs and fish.

She hoped the festival would be good for business.

Rolle accepted a contract on good faith for catering and lodging, according to Tribune 242, which is a daily newspaper in The Bahamas. “I wasn’t working for this one, I was working on our future goals with Fyre,” she said. "That was my purpose."

Interviewed in The Guardian after the event was over, Rolle said she was devastated when the reality of the festival became clear. Apparently near tears, she explained, "Just take it away and let me start a new beginning...It really pains me when I have to talk about it."

Stranded festival-goers in the Bahamas.

Netflix

Rolle had spent $50,000 to draft in extra staff and, despite the fact that the festival was clearly not happening, continued to uphold her catering commitment. She says the total she spent is in fact much higher, in the six figures.

Rolle made over 1,000 meals a day just for the workers.

On her GoFundMe, Rolle explains, "Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all prepared and delivered by Exuma Point to Coco Plum Beach, and Roker’s Point where the main events were scheduled to take place." She also says that patrons also came to the restaurant to get meals, so the total meal count is probably higher. Organizers were also apparently checked into rooms at the Exuma Point villas.

She also helped Fyre festival-goers.

She said she was also called upon to house guests as well—hundreds of them. “They said the grounds aren’t ready, we would like to bring the guests to your place for a few hours until the site is ready," she told local media. "But we didn’t prepare the grounds to receive 500 or 600 persons."

Still, Rolle managed to take care of them despite the short notice and being short-staffed. "During the day they were happy here as long as I kept cooking, breakfast turned into lunch and the girls just cooked and cooked and cooked. We had a lot of food, it’s just that we weren’t prepared.”

She's been badly impacted by the festival.

Rolle was never paid for her services to the organizers. On Twitter, the executive producer on Netflix's Fyre, Gabrielle Bluestone, drew attention to Rolle, both her heroic efforts to feed workers and the financial consequences.

For those of you asking how to help Maryann Rolle, the Bahamian woman who spent $50,000 of her savings to feed the local laborers who worked on the Fyre Festival, she has an official gofundme page here: https://t.co/eLawHgE92E

She did, however, start a GoFundMe, which as of this writing has so far raised over $184,000. Her story has resonated with hundreds of other people, who have donated to support. You can check out her page here.

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